If Ramaphosa leaves, there’s no obvious ANC contender to take his place. (123RF)
There is no obvious successor if Ramaphosa goes. Where are the young leaders? Is South Africa a cult?
You see the problem, don’t you? The problem is not that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s position is so precarious that every hit he takes makes the collective hearts of business leaders — and South Africans who care — jump into their mouths.
It is that the source of South Africa’s rising confidence over the past six months has been built not around a core set of leaders, not around an organisation, but around one man.
Look around Ramaphosa and it’s very depressing. When Ramaphosa leaves, who does business work with and who do the parties to the GNU collaborate with? Where are the ambitious rising stars who can take over from him and inspire confidence?
The crisis triggered by last week’s Constitutional Court ruling that impeachment proceedings be launched following Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala scandal illustrates how poor the ANC and South Africa have been at succession planning.
The court ruling presents a conundrum for the DA and others in the GNU: can they work with Paul Mashatile, Ramaphosa’s controversial deputy? Are the DA, the IFP, Rise Mzansi and the other parties in the GNU prepared to be led by such a man? If not him, then who?
It is worth saying upfront that at a policy level, I have never known Mashatile to spout populist sentiments. On almost every key issue — except the NHI, on which ANC leaders toe the party line — he has consistently stood by market-friendly and very sober positions.
But the man has attracted controversy.
His history as an MEC and premier in Gauteng is littered with stories of how “the Alex mafia” was built around him, and how it divvied up government contracts for cronies and frontmen. He has denied wrongdoing, but the whispers persist due to frequent flashes of his unexplained wealth.
Most concerning is Mashatile’s closeness to Jacob Zuma in the period between 2007 and 2017. He was front and centre in the “premier league” — the faction of four premiers of Gauteng, North West, Mpumalanga and Free State — who schemed with Cosatu and the SACP to sack Thabo Mbeki and bring Zuma to power. If, for the sake of power, Mashatile was prepared to look aside as Zuma and his cronies captured the state, what is he prepared to do now to be in power?
This is all to say the Ramaphosa crisis shows just how bare the ANC and South Africa’s leadership cupboard is.
One of the most shocking revelations of the past week came when DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis told journalist Clement Manyathela that members of the business community and the ANC had called him throughout last weekend, asking that the DA vote not to impeach the president, even if the impeachment committee finds against Ramaphosa. To his credit, Hill-Lewis disagreed with them. Are we so desperate that we are prepared to trample on our constitution to protect a leader we happen to admire in many respects?
We are here now because the conduct of ANC politicians since the mid-2000s has made politics the arena of the corrupt and the disreputable. The best of our young people are not in the ANC Youth League, they are working hard at an accounting firm or trying to start a business in the townships. Enter politics? They will laugh you out of court if you make such a suggestion. Politics is where you go if you have an appetite for bribery and other types of corruption. Politics is where you go if you have no ethical or moral compass.
This is particularly painful given the selflessness of those who came before the current lot of sorry excuses we have for leaders.
Walter Sisulu, the longtime secretary-general of the ANC who recruited Nelson Mandela and propelled him into leadership, was a property investor. He gave it up to fight for a democratic South Africa. Mandela and Oliver Tambo were successful lawyers.
Now we are led by people who own multimillion-rand houses whose origins they cannot explain.
Whatever the next step may be for Ramaphosa and for South Africa, we need to have a conversation about the next layer of our leadership. We can’t have this intolerable situation where everything hangs on the fate of one man. That makes South Africa a cult. We need proper alternatives.
The union has outlined its plan of action, accusing the retailer of undermining collective bargaining processes. The retailer has proposed an overhaul of its store labour model through a retrenchment process.
The union has threatened to down tools, calling on management to halt retrenchments and return to the negotiating table.
The union’s Cyril Mbenza says the workers are weighing their options, with a threat to down tools.
“When talking to workers, workers are angry, and when talking to even the affiliate, I mean, to Cosatu, you can see that, I mean, the federation itself is not happy about this, and workers at large. Nationally, we are in talks about this. That is how far we’ve gone, and the feedback that we get from the workers is that we need to fight, and we will use all our might, everything we have to protect our rights and to protect, basically, those benefits that we fought for.”
WATCH | SACCAWU has rejected Pick n Pay’s proposed overhaul of its store labour model, warning that the retailer’s Section 189 process could push workers out despite assurances that no jobs will be cut. pic.twitter.com/vnz571aNO4
Cosatu has bemoaned the composition of Parliament’s impeachment committee investigating President Cyril Ramaphosa over the Phala Phala scandal, while the MK Party claims the process is biased in favour of the ANC.
Trade union federation Cosatu believes the composition of Parliament’s impeachment committee is unconstitutional.
The committee will consist of 31 MPs from 16 parties, with the ANC allocated a majority of nine members, while the DA has five, the MK Party three, and the EFF two.
The remaining 12 seats will be shared among smaller parties.
The directive establishing the committee was issued by the National Assembly Speaker, Thoko Didiza, under Section 89 of the Constitution.
This follows a Constitutional Court ruling, which revived the Section 89 inquiry into the alleged cover-up of the theft of a large amount of foreign currency at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Limpopo farm in 2020.
The apex court ruled that the legislature acted unconstitutionally when it voted not to adopt the report and set up an impeachment committee.
It ordered Parliament to establish an impeachment committee for Ramaphosa to answer to prima facie evidence about foreign currency stolen from his Phala Phala farm.
Cosatu’s Matthew Parks says Parliament’s decision on how parties will be represented on the committee is unconstitutional.
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He says the committee includes political parties with negligible representation in Parliament.
“ This has been done at the expense of the largest party in Parliament, the African National Congress, which, in proportion to its representation, is entitled to at least twelve members or 40%.
“Instead, it has been allocated nine or 30%. This directly undermines the electorate, which saw fit in the 2024 national elections to provide the ANC with 40% of the seats in Parliament.”
However, the MK Party, the official opposition in Parliament, told the SABC that it believes the committee is rigged in favour of the ANC and its government of national unity allies.
“We also do not want a repeat of what happened in 2022, where the ANC used its majority to protect Ramaphosa,” said the MK Party’s Visvin Reddy.
“I still don’t understand why ANC leaders want to protect this man. He’s a liability.”
“We cannot claim to fight for the working class while allowing a section of that class to be hunted like wild animals,” Ajaero stated. He urged COSATU to spearhead a mass campaign within every union, community, and workplace, educating South Africans that migrant workers are not the cause of poverty, but victims of the same oppressive system.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called for urgent action to combat xenophobic violence against African migrants in South Africa, demanding that the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) lead a mass educational and sensitisation campaign across communities and workplaces to protect migrant workers.
In a powerful letter dated May 7, 2026, addressed to the President of COSATU in Johannesburg, NLC President Joe Ajaero condemned the recent killings and destruction of businesses owned by African migrants, describing the attacks as the result of economic hardship and failed government policies. Ajaero warned that South Africa could not claim to defend the working class while allowing African migrants to be hunted and killed.
“We cannot claim to fight for the working class while allowing a section of that class to be hunted like wild animals,” Ajaero stated. He urged COSATU to spearhead a mass campaign within every union, community, and workplace, educating South Africans that migrant workers are not the cause of poverty, but victims of the same oppressive system.
“We must break, once and for all, the racist myth that a fellow black African from across a colonial border is our enemy,” Ajaero added.
The NLC also condemned the passive response of the South African security forces, accusing them of complicity in the violence. Ajaero called for a full deployment of state resources to protect migrant workers and their properties, stressing that perpetrators must be swiftly prosecuted and compensation provided to families who have lost loved ones or livelihoods.
The NLC further warned that xenophobia was a threat to working-class unity across Africa, undermining collective bargaining power and weakening the fight against exploitation. “Xenophobia is not good for anybody, especially the world of work, because it fractures working-class unity and weakens our collective bargaining power against capital,” Ajaero explained.
To address the crisis, the NLC proposed an emergency meeting of African trade union centres under the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation and the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity. This meeting would aim to develop joint mechanisms for protecting migrant workers across the continent.
Ajaero cautioned that if the xenophobic violence in South Africa is left unchecked, it could spread across the continent. “Xenophobia is a cancer that, if not excised in South Africa, will metastasise across the continent,” he said.
The recent Supreme Court ruling on the Van der Vyver Transport case has exposed the ongoing chaos and maladministration faced by workers at the Compensation Fund, prompting COSATU to demand urgent reforms for a fairer system. Image: Leon Lestrade/ Independent Newspapers
The recent Supreme Court of Appeal ruling on the Van der Vyver Transport case shone a long overdue spotlight into the chaos and maladministration that thousands of workers experience time and again at the Compensation of Occupational Injuries and Diseases Fund (CF).
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is heartened that the Supreme Court called for an independent investigation into the deeply worrying state of affairs at the CF.
This is a demand that the Federation has been making for many years.
Employers experience endless challenges when attempting to register their employees with the CF, be it online or in person.
This results in many employers simply giving up and leaving their workers unprotected should they be injured or even die during the course of their work.
When workers apply for relief after a workplace injury or disease, all too often they are not met with relief or assistance, but endless queues, bewildering red tape and outright bureaucratic indifference.
A visit to anyone of the Department of Employment and Labour’s Labour Centres will show workers in desperate need of urgent relief, subjected to days of endless queues and even then, they may still not find the help they need and are entitled to by law.
Countless workers reach out to Cosatu and employers for assistance to unlock these bureaucratic obstacles. We have seen time and again workers battling to access relief for years at a time.
Tragically the same shameful experience is felt by workers when applying for their Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits.
Newspaper headlines have shown time and again how workers’ UI and CF contributions when invested to generate interest to ensure the sustainability of these two important Funds, being treated as a slush fund for corrupt politicians, officials and businesspersons. Whilst there has been some progress in tackling the scourge of corruption and state capture in the Funds, by no stretch can we say this battle has been won.
These painful experiences undermine the progressive objectives of the Funds and the tireless efforts of the majority of their staff to ensure that workers and their families receive the relief they are entitled to timeously.
The Funds are a key anchor of South Africa’s social security umbrella with the CF providing compensation to workers injured or who have been affected by a disease during the course of their work as well as their families in the event of their death.
Recent progressive amendments to it have extended cover to more than 1 million domestic workers as well as relief for workers affected by post-traumatic stress disorder (important for security personnel as well as mineworkers and women who experience gender-based violence at work.
Proposed amendments in the current labour law reforms include extending such cover to atypical workers, e.g. actors, performers and platform employees.
The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) provides severance pay for workers who’ve lost their jobs, reduced time relief for workers at struggling companies who may not be able to pay salaries whilst undergoing restructuring as well as maternity leave pay.
Recent amendments included providing paid parental and adoption leave as well as maternity leave for mothers who experienced still born births and third trimester miscarriages.
As with the CF, new proposals include extending UI protection to atypical workers such as Uber drivers plus doubling severance pay from one to two weeks per year worked.
As we saw during Covid-19 when the economy was placed under lockdown, the UIF played a key role by releasing over R65 billion to help 5.7 million workers take care of their families, prevent millions of job losses and stimulate economic growth.
What was also brought to the fore during COVID-19 were how archaic the UIF and CF systems were and remain.
Subsequent reports by the Auditor-General how shown how these porous systems enable corruption inside and outside the Funds to take place.
They have been at the heart of why employers struggle to register their staff and why workers have to queue for days and still battle to receive their relief.
COSATU has raised this matter time and again with government at Nedlac, in Parliament, in bilaterals and publicly over the past six years.
Business and the broader labour movement have echoed these calls.
We have called upon the Department and the Funds to put in place a process to cleanse, overhaul and modernise these Funds, to ensure employers can register employees with ease and workers can receive their full relief without hassles.
Business offered to design a system free of charge for the Funds. The Government Technical Advisory Centre provided a comprehensive diagnosis of what needs to be done. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) offered to build a new system for the Funds as it had done during the Mandela Administration.
Yet these offers have been blue ticked by the Department.
Instead, once a year the Department appears before Nedlac with a PowerPoint presentation on how the Funds will definitely be fixed over the next two years with an exorbitant price tag for consultants attached. Similar PowerPoints are trotted out before Parliament with incredulous 90% delivery targets claimed!
Yet a visit to any Labour Centre today is a painful reminder that workers in their most desperate moment of need will be subjected to shameful delays and red tape to access what is legally theirs. Many simply give up.
This is simply unacceptable and should not be tolerated. No amount of perfume can make this experience for workers smell nice.
The path to fixing the Funds is not complicated.
They require competent management, the removal of corrupt and criminal elements, the filling of vacancies and hiring of critical skills, investing in infrastructure, especially IT and putting in place modern, user friendly, transparent, accessible and corruption proof systems.
SARS must be enlisted to design and set these up.
We cannot continue to accept nor tolerate these abysmal state of affairs. Workers deserve better. Government must act and be seen to upholding workers’ hard-won rights.
Labour unions have warned Prasa against retrenchments. Picture: (Freddy Mavunda)
Labour raises possible ‘jobs bloodbath’ across the rail operator’s operations
The United National Transport Union (Untu), the majority union at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), has criticised the rail operator for allegedly steaming ahead with plans to retrench 603 employees without consulting labour.
“We reject this move by Prasa, therefore, we appeal to all our members not to sign any acknowledgement letter or correspondence issued in relation to this retrenchment process. The manner and behaviour of Prasa undermines the legal objective of a joint consensus-seeking consultation process,” said Untu spokesperson Atenkosi Plaatjie.
A facilitation process by the commission for conciliation, mediation and arbitration (CCMA) was flawed, she said, as Prasa management “consistently refused to provide labour with critical information requested in an effort to avert this jobs bloodbath”.
“This information would make way for a people optimisation process within the rail business where there are currently open vacancies. Such organograms should have formed the basis of the consultation process, as they would have assisted in preventing this bloodbath.
“Labour repeatedly requested these structures, but they were never provided. This failure has significantly contributed to the process being fundamentally flawed,” she said.
The parastatal incurred irregular expenditure of R3.8bn in 2022/23, earning a qualified audit opinion from the auditor-general for the period. From 2018/19 to 2021/22, the auditor-general issued a disclaimer on its financial statements, which signifies that the accounts cannot be relied on and often suggests the company is in a parlous financial state.
Prasa received government subsidies amounting to R7.2bn for operations and R12.3bn for capital expenditure in 2022/23. The entity generated revenue of R119m from fares, operating lease rental income of R620m, other income of R181m and interest received of R1.7bn.
Prasa, which has a network of more than 2,000km of track, has historically been plagued by ageing infrastructure, vandalism, lack of reliability and effectiveness, fraud, corruption and safety concerns.
The entity launched its general overhaul programme in 2022 at a cost of R7.5bn (of which R3.48bn had been spent by the end of March 2025).
The overhaul was established to refurbish and extend the service life of Prasa’s legacy rolling stock fleet — the older Metrorail coaches and mainline passenger services locomotives that serve millions of commuters in South Africa’s metropolitan regions.
Prasa said it has grown its ridership from 39.4-million in the 2023/24 financial year to 77-million by last year.
Plaatjie said Untu noted with concern that despite shortages of security personnel, “Prasa has now included protection services employees in its retrenchment plans”.
“This decision is both shocking and contradictory, particularly as Prasa’s own corporate plan identifies the ongoing need for additional protection services officers to safeguard passengers, rail infrastructure, and operations against vandalism and cable theft,” she said.
“It makes absolutely no sense to retrench protection services employees unless Prasa wishes to repeat the catastrophic mistakes made during the Covid-19 period, when security contracts were cancelled, leading to widespread vandalism, rampant cable theft, and the destruction of critical rail infrastructure and trains.”
Plaatjie said Untu’s legal department is exploring the next course of legal action in the section 189 process. Organised labour has called for a meeting with Prasa group CEO Hishaam Emeran on May 22 to “discuss this disgraceful retrenchment process by the entity. This approach by Prasa has caused immense anxiety and uncertainty among affected employees and their families, and it must be condemned.”
Satawu spokesperson Amanda Tshemese said the Cosatu affiliate would comment in due course. Prasa spokesperson Andiswa Makanda has been approached for comment, which will be added once received.
